Slow Cooker Chicken Curry from the Lemon Bowl

We made this last night for our evening of pumpkin carving. I really like the incorporation of Sweet potatoes in this and need to be honest that I really doubted they would be done in time. I procrastinated as long as possible to open the crock but to my pleasurable surprise everything was done completely. Even the kids ate it adding a dollop of sour cream/ yogurt to it. We will definitely do this again, maybe adding a bit more kick next time.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry from The Lemon Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 medium onion - thinly sliced
• 15 oz can chickpeas - drained and rinsed
• 2 medium sweet potatoes - peeled and diced
• ½ cup coconut milk - light
• ½ cup chicken stock - low sodium
• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons curry powder - salt-free
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne powder - optional
• 1 cup green peas - frozen
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• cilantro - optional garnish

Instructions

1. In the bottom of the slow cooker, whisk together coconut milk, chicken stock, tomato sauce, curry powder, salt and cayenne.
2. Add chicken breasts, onion, chickpeas and sweet potatoes. Using tongs, gently toss ingredients together to ensure evenly coated.
3. Cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours.
4. Stir in peas and lemon juice 5 minutes before serving.
5. Serve over rice and with plenty of fresh cilantro.

Crock pot Cranberry Butter

I forget how I stumbled upon this recipe (it could have been Pinterest) but it is in the crock pot today! I intended for it to be Thanksgiving place setting gifts, but I am thinking it might be the one and only thing I have canned for Christmas. We shall see how it goes. This recipe is from the blog The View From Great Island.

Crockpot Cranberry Butter

Yield: makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 12-oz bags of cranberries, rinsed
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup apple cider

Instructions

1. Put all the ingredients in a crockpot and stir to combine well. Turn on high. Let it cook for about 2 hours or until the cranberries are soft.
2. Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the mixture in a food processor. Do this in two batches. Be careful as the mixture is hot, I cover the top opening of the machine with a dish cloth. Let the machine run for a full minute to puree the cranberries very finely.
3. Force the cranberry puree through a mesh sieve or strainer. Push forcefully with the back of a spoon to get as much cranberry puree as you can. Discard the solids.
4. Pour the puree back into the crockpot. Turn the crockpot to high, and leave the lid ajar. Cook until thickened, approximately another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Put the cranberry butter into clean jars with tight fitting lids and let cool. Store in the refrigerator and consume within a month.

Note:  Be sure to remove the cinnamon stick before pureeing the cooked cranberries...I learned the hard way!

Crockpot Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 package Italian sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup
2 large cans whole tomatoes, un-drained
2 cans any color kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
several grinds of pepper
a pinch or two of salt
2 bay leaves
1 cup of red wine
and for serving, sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese

Process
1. Cook the meat in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat.























2. Pour off any fat.
3. Stir all ingredients (minus sour cream or cheese) into slow cooker.

4. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.***Or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours
(or a little bit of both in my house. Since the meat is precooked keeping on low the whole time is fine!

Slow Cooker Sandwiches

It's time to bump this post for all the busy baseball and lacrosse parents. This link is from another blog I follow, I JUST got off the phone with SP asking what we should do for dinner. I just returned from vacation, am busy unpacking the car and getting laundry done, have appointments this afternoon, followed by the first baseball game of the season for Puckstopper. There is no time to get much done, since my afternoon project, if time allows, is to plant some seeds with Daughter. Anyway, this lovely link below will bring you to 14 different recipes for slow cooker sandwiches!
Click this link below to get the the Better Homes and Gardens website about the sandwiches.
Simple Slow Cooker Sandwiches

But here you will find the 12 different sandwiches and links to their recipes:
Sloppy Chicken Joes
Apricot Pulled Pork Hoagies
Caramelized Onion, Walnut and Cilantro Chicken Salad (can you say YUM!?)
Southwestern Shredded Beef Sandwiches
Pulled Pork with Root beer Sauce (Puckstopper will love this)
Tangy Barbecue Beef
Pork and Slaw Barbecue Rolls
Easy Chicken Rarebit (oh my I am craving cheese again)
Cuban Pork
Slow Simmering Barbecue Sandwiches
Five Spice Pork Au Jus
German Style Pork Sandwiches

Crockpot Meatloaf

Friends that came over last night asked about this recipe. I had made it one night that they babysat for us. It's super simple and yummy!

Ingredients
2 pounds ground meat (beef, chicken, pork, or turkey)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup Stove top (or bread crumbs)
1 large egg
1 cup shredded cheese
1 generous Tablespoon Worcestershire
salt and pepper to season

Process

• Lightly grease your crock pot.
• In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients by stirring well.
• Pack into crock pot - pushing to edges and flattening top - kind of molding the meat into your crock pot.
• Cover and cook on high one hour.
• Reduce heat to low and cook 3 more hours.
• Before serving pour off grease so you can reduce your fat intake.

Crockpot Tuna Casserole

I make this recipe differently every time. Sometimes it is simply the pasta that changes but other times it is the extra ingredients I might add. When I made this the other night, I added pearl onions. With anything in the crock pot, you can always mix and match at will just as long as your proportions even out or your sauce is enough to cover the bulk of the recipe. In this recipe you may choose 2 cans of the same type soup. You could also choose cream of mushroom soup if you like mushroom. Feel free to improvise - that's my favorite thing about cooking in crock pots! Regardless, here is my crock pot tuna casserole from the other night.

Ingredients
12 ounce can of tuna (you can add more if you want)
6 ounces egg noodles, cooked al dente first
1/2 cup to a cup pearl onions (if frozen like mine, thaw first)
1/2 cup to a cup green pepper
1/2 cup to a cup peas
1 can condensed cream of celery soup
1 can condensed cream of onion soup
1 can water
shakes of lemon pepper
shakes of celery salt
several dashes Worcestershire

Process

1. Combine all ingredients in crock pot.
2. Stir to combine.
3. Cook on low 4 to 6 hours, or in a pinch on high for 2 to 3. If you cook on high please be around to check for scorching on the edges, and stir or reduce heat to low if necessary.

Crockpot Meatballs

Through out my documenting the family recipes, I will of course be adding our nightly dinner recipes. I also haven't said it yet, but it goes without saying that any of the crock pot recipes are the modern recipes. I don't think Mom owned a crock pot and her idea of slow cooking would have been the ritual of chutney making every winter. Then again maybe it would have been HER meatballs that she made for every Christmas Eve Cheer. These meatballs are NOT those meatballs, so if that is what you are wanting you can stop now. In fact this recipe calls for frozen meatballs, but you COULD make your own. It just defeats the point of this recipe - quick and easy and perfect for kids. The meatballs come from a friend, one that encouraged me to get a crock pot just so I could make these. They are simple and perfect for a busy night with hockey! It is versatile and proportions are highly dependant on what you get in your grocery store. My 10 year old had a rough day at school, and these were his comfort food request. Beef meatballs - this is what's for dinner!

Ingredients and Materials
Crockpot
Frozen meatballs - tonight I used two 16 ounce bags Wolfe's Neck Farms Italian style All Natural beef meatballs.
1 10 ounce jar Polaner all fruit grape jelly - organic works too we just don't use High Fructose Corn Syrup in our food.
1 jar organic ketchup (again we don't use HFCS). Start with 1/2 use more along the way.
I 20 ounce can diced pineapple
tonight I added some diced green peppers, fresh from our garden (not a usual ingredient)


Combine all ingredients in crockpot. The sauce should be enough to cover the meatballs, but they are not soaking in sauce. As the meatballs thaw and cook, it will soften up. You can check and stir once an hour. Cook on low 4 to 6 hours, or on high 3. Can serve on own or with pasta but there is not a lot of sauce.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

This is one of my all time favorite crock pot recipes. Ingredients can be modified to make it low fat. Serves a family of five with lots of leftovers.

Crock Pot Mexican chicken (aka sour cream and salsa chicken)

4 - 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I cut them into chunks)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Spray Crockpot, add chicken and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Mix salsa and sour cream together and then pour on top of chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook on low for 6 -8 hours, or high for 4 hours. You can serve this with tortillas to wrap it in (incorrectly assumed I had them tonight - bummer!) or on top of rice. Can sprinkle with chopped scallions or cheese as well.

Yum yum enjoy!

Crockpot BBQ Lentils

This was so yummy, lots of leftovers, and the kids loved it!

Ingredients
2 cups BBQ sauce
3.5 cups H2O
1 lb dry lentils
1 package vegetarian hot dogs (I used tofu pups)

1. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours.